“Time and time again, we have seen that better information reporting helps the tax system work better by ensuring that everyone pays what they owe,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “The new law gives us an important new tool for closing the tax gap and also provides business taxpayers better documentation to compute and report their income and expenses. The IRS will work closely with stakeholder groups to ensure a smooth implementation of this new program."

These proposed regulations, issued on November 23, propose rules to implement reporting of credit card, debit card and similar transactions, as well as transactions settled through third-party payment networks, such as third-party organizations that settle online transactions. The IRS also released for comment a draft version of new Form 1099K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Payments, which will be used to make these reports.

The new law requires banks and other payment settlement entities to report payment card and third-party network transactions with their participating merchants. The IRS emphasized that individual cardholders are unaffected by this requirement, and none of the cardholder’s personal information will be shared with the IRS.

The IRS has created Form 1099-K, which is similar to the existing Forms 1099 used to report interest, dividends and other payments. The first information return covering calendar year 2011 must be filed with the IRS and furnished to participating merchants in early 2012. Among other things, the proposed regulations describe who is required to file a return and which payment card and third-party network transactions are subject to the reporting requirement.

The IRS is inviting comment on proposed regulations and the draft Form 1099-K, which must be received by January 25, 2010. A public hearing is scheduled for February 10, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

The IRS said that penalties for non-compliance with the new rules would be mitigated in the early stages of their implementation, except in "particularly egregious" cases.